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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2015)
2 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Save the Upper Deschutes By Jeff Perin Guest Columnist g n i v i g s k n a h T Happy from the staff at r e p a p s w e N t e g g The Nu Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not neces- sarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor: While President Obama is pardoning two turkeys for Thanksgiving, every one of us can exercise that same presidential power by choosing a nonviolent Thanksgiving obser- vance that spares a turkey’s life. And here are some good reasons: • You can brag about pardoning a turkey — like Obama. • You truly are what you eat. Who wants to be a “butterball”? • Fruits and vegetables don’t have to carry government warning labels. • You won’t sweat the environment-and- food-resources-devastation guilt trip. • You won’t spend a sleepless night won- dering how the turkey lived and died. • Your body will appreciate a holiday from saturated fat, cholesterol, and hormones. • You won’t have to call Poultry Hotline to keep your family out of the emergency room. Seriously, this Thanksgiving let’s give thanks for our good fortune, health, and happiness with a life-affirming, cruelty-free feast of vegetables, fruits, and grains. Our own dinner will feature a soy- or wheat-based roast, mashed potatoes, stuffed squash, candied yams, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. An Internet search on “vegetar- ian Thanksgiving” is getting us more recipes and other useful information than we could possibly use. Siegfried Neufhaus s s s To the Editor: Have recently read the history of Henry Kissinger, a book which implied that many in national office and striving to get in have very little knowledge of the tasks they are to handle. The Russian airliner, the Paris tragedy and other ISIS cruelties led me to another book just out: “1944 — FDR and the Year that Changed See letterS on page 11 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Snow showers Sunny Sunny Mostly sunny Mostly sunny Mostly sunny 25/7 26/9 30/9 31/14 35/17 35/na The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson News Editor: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Williver Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Advertising: Lisa Buckley Graphic Design: Jess Draper Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Accounting: Erin Bordonaro The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2014 The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. One of my favorite riv- ers is very broken. Once considered a blue-ribbon trout river, the Upper Deschutes from Wickiup Reservoir down to Bend is now abused. The river is treated like an irri- gation ditch. It is no longer the spe- cial place it once was. Growing up as a Portland kid, I first fished the Upper Deschutes when I moved to Bend in the summer of 1980. At the age of 11, I was just getting my fishing game together. That evening on the river was a life-changing event. Later, as a grown-up (as much a fishing guide can call themselves a grown-up) I’ve rowed my drift boat down that part of the river for numerous clients and good friends, and we used to experience epic hatches and excellent fishing. The sad exclamation point to the problem came when the compounding conditions really caught up with us back in 2013. This is not simply a drought issue, this is largely a water mismanagement issue that has gone on for decades! In 2013, on my last drift for the season on the Upper Deschutes, the river flowed at 1,500 cfs. That was in mid-September. Two weeks later, water releases from the dam were tapered all the way down to a dev- astating 20 cfs for the rest of the winter. Back-to-back Artic blasts in November and December froze the river from bank to bank. In some areas ice was solid to the bottom of the riverbed. Trout and ESA-listed spotted frogs died in unprecedented numbers. It was the worst blow to a river I’d ever witnessed. When you go upstream towards Wickiup Dam and look at nearly 20 miles of river up there … that is when you’ll see the Deschutes at it’s worst. Really, if you saw how the river looked today you would be appalled. When the Deschutes was at it’s best, before the dams were built at Crane Prairie and Wickiup, the river ran a consistent flow of about 700 cfs. At one time, fish were so abundant there was a 125-fish limit upstream of Bend. Now, in the summer, when the irrigation water is being delivered toward Bend the river channel is up to 10 feet deep and runs 2,000 cfs — three times natural flow. With the canals turned off for winter, the river channel can be measured in inches. This leaves a serious issue with silting, and an even more serious issue of habitat loss. Habitat for trout is key. Habitat for ESA-listed spotted frogs is now critical. Habitat for aquatic insects is largely lost at this point. We are just beginning to see some cooperation with agriculture, golf, and development, but we have a long way to go to bring the Deschutes back from the brink. We need a tighter relationship with the agri- culture community. A will- ingness to share and con- serve has never been more important. It has been well over 10 years since the newest man- agement plan began; we are losing ground for a healthy river. Water Watch is push- ing for changes we need in Central Oregon right now. And you can help us right now. Don’t stand for the Upper Deschutes or the Crooked River being treated as irrigation ditches any more. They’ve been treated like this for years, and it is time to stop that. Water Watch (http:// waterwatch.org/programs/ deschutes/land) is the best chance we have to save our Central Oregon rivers. Please help us now! Jeff Perin owns and operates The Fly Fisher’s Place in Sisters. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
